


Take Me Out Tonight

by javajunkie



Category: Riverdale (TV 2017)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-13
Updated: 2017-06-13
Packaged: 2018-11-13 13:03:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,686
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11185689
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/javajunkie/pseuds/javajunkie
Summary: Jughead and Betty meet at a frat party.





	Take Me Out Tonight

**Author's Note:**

> Written for the summer hiatus challenge.

Take Me Out Tonight

Betty never thought of herself as the type of girl who would end up at a frat party, but then she met her roommate Veronica Lodge and she suddenly found herself in a lot of situations she would not have previously thought likely.  Veronica was the sort of fearless that, frankly, used to terrify her.  Betty enjoyed order.  She liked knowing what came next and, if possible, what came after that, as well.  Chalk it up to an upbringing structured with rules and expectations, but Betty found comfort in the expected.  Veronica did not.  She lived for the spontaneous moment, and, as freshman year fate would have it, now routinely took her careful roommate along with her for the ride.

            “Where did you even hear about this party?”  Betty asked Veronica, looking warily up at the large frat house.  The Greek letters plastered to the front of the house were slightly askew.

            “Some girls were talking about it in the bathroom.”

            Betty gaped at her.  “You heard about this party in the bathroom?”

            “Yes, I did,” Veronica returned easily.

            “What if they won’t let us in?  Maybe it’s a private party?”

            Veroncia tilted her head to the side and said, “It’s a frat party and we’re two hot and intelligent women.  I don’t think we’ll have any problem getting in.”

            Betty looked from Veronica’s leather mini dress to her own yellow dress and cardigan, and thought to herself that Veronica’s logic may only be accurate for one of them.  She slipped off her cardigan and tucked it into her purse. 

            “Look at you taking off your cardigan,” Veronica said with an exaggerated waggle of her eyebrows.  “I’d almost say you’re getting yourself party-ready, B.”

            “This will be fun,” Betty said with more pep than she felt.

            “I’m really proud of you right now, Betty,” Veronica said, walking to the door and knocking twice.  She looked back at her roommate and said, “I almost believe that you want to be here.”

            “I _do_ want to be here,” Betty assured her.  “I’m just not entirely sure what _here_ is.  This is my first frat party.”

            Veronica pulled Betty forward and linked her arm with hers.  “I will be your frat party sensei.  Just stick with me and you’ll be golden, okay?”

            Betty nodded.  “Okay.”

            The door opened to reveal a large male in a shirt nearly unbuttoned to his belly button.  He swayed a bit in the doorway.

            “What’s the secret password?” he slurred.

            “Do _you_ even know it right now?”  Veronica asked pointedly. 

            The guy considered this for a moment and then stepped back.  “Welcome to Omega Chi.  If you barf on it, you pay for it.”

            “Charming,” Veronica sing-songed, stepping past him and bringing Betty along behind her.  The house looked nice from the outside, but the inside smelled strongly of jock straps and stale beer.  It was clear the men attempted to do some tidying, but the remnants of errant socks and wrappers poked out from underneath the living room furniture.  People were strewn drunkenly around the house, limbs loose like spaghetti.  There was a loud roar back behind the house. 

            “I think the real party is out back,” Veronica said.

            They reached a set of double doors and walked out into what had to be one of the most crowded backyards Betty had ever been in.  People were on top of each other, red Solo cups held high and heads thrown back in laughter.  Betty couldn’t help but smile.  It was total and complete chaos, and part of her was anxious to experience it.

            “Well, Betty, welcome to your first frat party.”

 

* * *

 

 

            “I hate everything about this,” Jughead said, standing with Archie in a sea of people who didn’t seem to understand the concept of personal space.  Someone knocked into him for what must have been the fifteenth time and he would have said something if the guy didn’t immediately careen into and begin making out with a female in a crop top and shorts that looked akin to an adult diaper. 

            “That’s a real love story right there,” Jughead deadpanned.  “Imagine the story they’ll tell their future grandchildren.”

            Archie laughed and said, “Come on, Jug, it’s not that bad.”

            “Oh, but it is,” Jughead said slowly.  “Look around, Archie.  We are in the Mecca of young adult hedonism.  A strange place where grabbing the nearest co-ed and going to town on them is not only accepted, but almost common place.  No one bats an eyelash.”

            “Just give it a chance,” Archie said.  “Who knows, maybe you’ll even have fun.”

            “I doubt it,” Jughead said.  “But, for the sake of our friendship, I’ll make an attempt.  I can _hang_.”

            Archie snorted.  “Please never say that again.”

            “I regretted it the moment it left my mouth.”

            “Look, just give it an hour,” Archie offered.  “If it still sucks –“

            “It will.”

            “If it still sucks,” Archie repeated slowly, “Then we can go home and play Assassin’s Creed or whatever.”

            Jughead scrunched his face up and said, “See, you _say_ that like it’s settling…”

            Archie went to respond when he spotted a diminutive girl with raven hair making her way through the crowd and he forgot whatever it was he was going to say.  Jughead looked over at his seemingly mute friend and followed his gaze.  Understanding hit him easily when he saw the tiny brunette in the even tinier leather mini dress.  His attention, however, went to the blonde standing next to her.  She looked refreshingly uncomfortable in a yellow sundress, her hair pulled up into the perfect ponytail at the base of her head.  Maybe he wasn’t alone in being dragged along to the festivities.  Jughead noticed a cream cardigan poking out of her bag and smirked.

            “I think I may have found someone more out of place here than me,” Jughead said, nodding toward the blonde.  “That girl literally has a cardigan in her bag.”

            Archie nodded distractingly.  “Yeah. 

            Jughead looked over at Archie, who appeared to be in some sort of trance, and said, “Hey, Arch.  You in there somewhere?”

            Archie snapped out of his reverie and looked over at his friend.  “Sorry, what?  I just –“

            “Had your own little Romeo and Juliet moment?  I saw it.  It was touching and mildly disconcerting.”

            Archie grinned, stealing another glance her way.

            “Go talk to her,” Jughead said.

            “What?  No, I’m good.  I dragged you here.  I shouldn’t ditch you.”

            “Archie, I’ll be fine.  I’m a big boy.  Go talk to her.”

            “Are you sure?”

            “Yes,” Jughead drawled.  “Just don’t play her any of your music yet.  Save that for date two.”

            Archie smirked.  “Thanks, Jug.  I won’t be gone long.”

            Jughead watched his friend make his way toward the brunette, and noticed that her blonde friend was missing.  He looked around idly, and when his efforts were unsuccessful turned his search to beer, instead.  He stopped a stocky guy in the college uniform of khaki shorts and a polo and asked him, “Is there a keg anywhere?”

            “Yeah, over in that corner,” the guy said, pointing past what had to be a good fifty or sixty people. 

            “Of course it is,” Jughead grumbled under his breath.  “Thanks, man.”

            He did his best to keep on the edges of the crowd, but it seemed like for every person he touched another person grew in their place.  It was a miracle that he made it to the keg.  There was a bit of a line, and his attention wandered as he mindlessly moved with the warm bodies.  He glanced over toward the bonfire and stopped short when he saw the blonde from before.  The cardigan was unearthed from the bag and thrown around her shoulders, presumably to ward off the somewhat nippy August evening.  Some guy talked to her, the loose sway of his body hinting that he wasn’t exactly sober.  He planted his hand on her waist and she politely removed it, setting him with a tight smile, and what he could only imagine was a restrained admonishment.  It went on much the same for the next few minutes, a hand here and a polite rebuff there.  He edged closer and she backed away, looking around nervously and cheeks turning pink.  It looked like perhaps someone should intervene, and Jughead went to do just that when the guy lowered his mouth to her ear and she pulled back abruptly and slapped him across the face.  Even with the din of drunken conversation and the 90s hip hop playing from some far off speaker, Jughead heard the resounding clap of her palm against the guy’s cheek.

            “That had to hurt,” he murmured.

 

* * *

 

           

            Betty’s palm stung. 

            “What the hell?” the guy cried out, staggering away from her.  “You’re crazy!  You’re fucking crazy!”

            He stormed off into the crowd and Betty rubbed her palm against her leg.  She was done with this party.  All she wanted to do was go home and curl up on her couch with some Netflix and herbal tea.  She shouldn’t have come here in the first place.  This wasn’t her scene.  She tried to tough it out for Veronica, but now she didn’t even know where her roommate was.  Last she saw her, she was talking with some tall redhead.   Betty headed in the direction of where she last saw Veronica, and walked directly into a wiry male in flannel.  Betty stumbled backwards and immediately launched into apologies. 

            “I’m sorry,” she said.  “I’m not paying enough attention to where I’m going. There are just so many people here.  I didn’t even know you could fit this many people into one place.”

            “I don’t think you’re supposed to.”

            “Anyway, I’m really sorry.”

            “It’s fine,” he said. “I saw your slap back there, by the way.”

            Betty’s cheeks flushed. “Oh gosh, look, I don’t normally go around slapping people.  I’m really not an aggressive person.  But he said something crude and, well, I couldn’t stand for that.  So, I slapped him.”

            He shrugged and told her, “Seems like a reasonable response to me.”

            She smiled a bit and said, “Thank you.”

            “So, uh, a cardigan at a frat party?  That’s a bold choice.”

            “I know, I feel sort of stupid,” she said, reaching up to tug it off her shoulders.  He reached forward without thinking and arranged it properly again on her shoulders.  She started a bit when his fingers brushed her shoulder and she quickly tried to arrange her face into some sort of neutral expression.

            “No, keep it,” he said, having the good sense to at least look uncomfortable at inadvertently touching a complete stranger.  “It, uh, suits you.”

            “Thank you.”

            “So, what brought you here?  No offense, but you don’t really seem like the target demographic here.”

            “I’m not,” she agreed.  “My roommate brought me along.  Who is actually the person I was rushing to find when I ran into you.  I was just with her, and…” she trailed off when she spotted Veronica over by the keg, hands pawing at a tall redhead.  “Oh dear.”

            Jughead followed her gaze and said, “Ah, I see your roommate found mine.”

            Betty’s looked up at him.  “What?”

            “The tall redhead is my roommate.  Good news is he’s actually a good guy.  Bad news is your roommate is probably occupied for the near future.  As is mine.”

            Betty frowned.  “I guess I can just text her that I’m leaving.”

            “Do you live far from here?”  he asked.

            She shook her head as she pulled her phone out of her purse.  She quickly sent Veronica a text message that she was leaving and said, “No, just a few blocks.”

            “Not surprisingly, this place is also not my natural habitat,” he said slowly.  Betty’s eyes roved over his ratty flannel and she said, “I would have never guessed.”

            “If it’s not too creepy, I can walk you home?  It’s pretty late.”

            Betty considered this for a moment and then told him, “Okay, sure.  Thanks.”

 

* * *

 

 

            The pair walked in comfortable silence, the sounds of a college campus serving as a sort of soundtrack as they wove their way through campus.  They exchanged names about half a block from the frat house, Betty mortified that she agreed to have him walk her home without having that basic information first.  There was something disarming about him, though.  She felt oddly comfortable around him, like they’d known each other for months instead of minutes.  The same could probably be said for serial killers, but Betty ignored that thought. 

            “So, what brought you to University of Chicago?”  Jughead asked.  “I can tell you’re not from around here.”

            Betty grinned.  “What gave me away?”

            “The soft ‘a’s.  You also didn’t know what Lou Malnoti’s pizza was.”

            “In my defense, your knowledge of deep dish pizza seems a bit out of the ordinary.”

            “Not at all.  I’m just a Chicagoan.”

            Betty laughed.  “Well, you’re right.  I’m not from here.  I’m from a small town outside of Connecticut.  You said you’re from here?”

            Jughead nodded.  “Born and raised.”

            “You didn’t want to branch out for college?”  Betty asked.

            “For what purpose?” he returned easily.  “I already live in one of the greatest cities in the world.”

            “You may be biased,” she told him.

            “I’m not,” he said honestly.  “Everything you could possibly want is in this city.  Granted, it’s not all at your fingertips like in New York, but it’s there.  If you want Greek food, go to Greektown.  Italian food?  Taylor street.  You want Indian food?  Take the red line up to Rogers Park.  There’s actually really good kabob places up there, too.”

            “Good to know,” Betty said, entertained by the absolute delight with which Jughead spoke about his city.

            Jughead caught her gaze and seemed somewhat chagrined for his outburst as he scratched at the side of his head and said, “Anyway, that’s why I didn’t really feel the need to leave.”

            “I understand,” Betty said. “My town is a completely different story.  The most exotic food we have are the seasonal flavored Pop Tarts at the gas station.”

            “That could be pretty exotic depending on the season.”

            Betty grinned, coming to a stop in front of her dorm.  “Anyway, this is my dorm.”

            “That was fast,” Jughead noted.

            “I told you it was only a few blocks,” she said, oddly wishing the walk had been longer.  “Anyway, thanks for walking me.”

            “You’re welcome.  I guess I’ll see you around, Betty.”

            He gave her this weird little salute and she smiled softly.  “See ya, Jughead.”

 

* * *

 

 

            Betty was fast asleep, dreaming of cozy nights with flannel pajamas, when someone shook her shoulder and woke her up.  She blinked, blurry vision coming into focus as sleep cleared from her eyes.

            “Veronica?”  Betty said when she saw it was her roommate who did the waking. “What are you doing?”

            “Betty, I’m in love.”

            “This couldn’t wait until the morning?”

            “It is the morning.”

            Betty reached for her phone and checked the time.  It was 3:00 a.m.

            “V,” Betty groaned. 

            “His name is Archie and he is absolute perfection,” Veronica gushed.  “We talked all night.  And when we kissed…fireworks!  It felt like the freaking Fourth of July in my belly, B.  I can’t wait to see him again.”

            “I’m really happy for you,” Betty said, yawning wide.  “But, can I go back to sleep now?”

            “Yes, you can,” Veronica said.  “Where did you disappear to at the party, anyway?  I lost you and then I got your text.”

            “I just went home,” Betty told her.  “It turns out that frat parties aren’t really my thing.”

            “Well, I’m sorry that you didn’t have a good time,” Veronica said, beginning to get ready for bed.

            “I didn’t have a terrible time,” Betty said, thinking about Jughead. “It actually ended up being better than I expected.”

            “Oh really?”

            Betty nodded, burrowing deeper into her covers.  “Anyway, I am going to bed.  I expect a full recap in the morning.”

            “Well, that goes without saying.”

            Betty closed her eyes, her thoughts drifting lazily to a crooked smile and dark eyes before she drifted asleep.

             

           

           

           

 

 

 


End file.
